Smartphones are one of the greatest technological revolutions of the last decade. Consisting of a variety of characteristics, such as high-resolution cameras, internal storage, and their processing capacity, smartphones are practical for a variety of work in forensics.
Fingerprints are among the three methods for human identification and evidence often found at crime scenes.
Latent fingerprints can be a vital piece of evidence within a crime scene. Given their invisibility to the naked eye, it is essential that there are different methods to improve their visualisation. The use of a smartphone’s optical features can improve this imaging, given that their cameras are suitable for enhancing and acquiring latent digital fingerprints.
Although the use of Smartphones in forensics remains very controversial, especially within the courts, their use would make the lives of forensic experts much simpler and further research into this new field would be immensely beneficial.
Along with many other reasons, a smartphones low cost and huge availability would be in the great interest for developing countries.
Smartphones easy to acquire technology such as accelerometers and cameras allow for scientists to easily locate and acquire laten fingerprints.
